UNICEF: Many Females Are Unaware They Are Being Used as Suicide Bombers

Since January, northern Nigeria has seen an unfortunate spike in female suicide bombers, and officials suspect that many of the girls and women don’t know they are carrying explosives, reports the BBC.

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Since March, the Nigerian army and the Multinational Joint Taskforce has been able to recover all of the cities and towns that were once occupied by Boko Haram.

But as the terrorist group has lost ground, they have increased the number of suicide bombings that have occurred in the northern region; for example, while 2014 recorded 26 suicide bombings for the entire year, 2015 already has had 27 bombings.

And according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), many of the girls and women who are being used as bombers are likely unaware that they are being employed as weapons of destruction.

The BBC reports:

Unicef said it did not believe that the girls carried out the attacks willingly and some may not even have been aware that they were on suicide missions.

Some of the girls had been abducted and were being exploited by militants who knew that they were less likely to be checked when entering target areas such as busy markets or bus stations, it added.

In fact, some suspect that these females are told that they are “carrying parcels” when they have actually been outfitted with explosives.

UNICEF is calling the increased use of females as suicide bombers “alarming.”

In addition to losing territory, Boko Haram has also lost more than 700 hostages and dozens of camp sites in the Sambisa Forest in the past month.

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